Tag Archives: Company Culture

4 Attraction and Retention Trends to Monitor in 2023

Last year’s labor market was a roller coaster and we believe 2023 will be no different. A lot is uncertain but one thing is clear: employers will struggle to compete for top talent. Labor metrics indicate that though the market has slightly improved over last year, it’s still a tight labor market, numbers remain historically high. While most employers project an increase in salaries in 2023, many will look beyond pay alone to help attract and retain current and prospective employees.

While some companies have been offering higher compensation and better benefits packages, many organizations also are looking for other ways to optimize their offerings and enhance employee experience. As they compete for talent, many may take a total rewards approach to fulfill employees’ workplace desires. Today, we’re talking about four attraction and retention trends to watch in 2023.

1. Redesigned Flexibility

Remote work exploded at the height of the pandemic and many organizations shifted to a flexible work model out of necessity. Nearly three years later, having flexible and remote work models has shifted from a perk to a given. Employees want the flexibility to work when and where they want.

For employers, it’s essential to balance organizational goals with employee desires. It’s important to adapt to employee expectations around flexible work models while also keeping an eye on business priorities that might call for having employees back in the office. While workplace flexibility is not always feasible, employers can evaluate their own situations and consider ways to develop flexible arrangements. The goal is to focus on output and productivity rather than time spent online or in the workplace.

2. Mental Health Support

Between the pandemic, inflation and job duties, more employees feel burnt out or are battling mental health challenges. More employers will be considering how to take a proactive approach towards employee mental well-being and resilience. A survey from the employee wellness platform, Gympass, revealed that nearly half of employees (48%) say their well-being declined in 2022. In addition, 28% say they are miserable at work. Health experts predict that employees’ mental health will continue to decline amid economic uncertainty, which means the demand for mental health care will increase in 2023.

Employers can offer benefits, perks, and wellness programs designed to support mental well-being. To address burnout, many employers will offer or expand their employee assistance programs, behavioral health anti-stigma campaigns, and training for recognizing employee and peer behavioral health issues. Employers are poised to offer the education and support that today’s workers need and are looking for.

3. Learning and Development Opportunities

Learning and developing efforts have been on the rise in recent years. Not only are workers looking for professional growth opportunities at an employer, but many organizations are upskilling or reskilling workers, as it’s often less expensive to reskill a current employee than hire a new one. On the flip side, employees who receive learning and development opportunities are more likely to stay with the company and grow into different roles. Therefore, learning and development initiatives prove to be a win-win situation for employers and employees.

As employers go head-to-head in the competitive race for talent in 2023, upskilling their current workforces could be a solution to finding workers for their in-demand roles. Furthermore, organizations are prioritizing internal mobility to address skills gaps and strengthen employee retention.

4. Increased Focus on Belonging

Nurturing a sense of belonging is a critical component of company culture. At work, belonging is the experience of employees feeling accepted and included by those around them. While belonging doesn’t necessarily come with a price tag, employers can invest efforts and resources into ensuring their workplaces are inclusive, collaborative, and connected. Employees are looking for a work environment that’s authentic and accepting. A focus on belonging can play a crucial role in improving workplace culture.

Many workplace factors can impact employees’ sense of belonging, including company culture, benefits offerings, communication methods, learning and development resources and mental health support. Any day-to-day interactions among co-workers and managers or companywide initiatives may impact workplace culture and the overall employee experience. When an organization develops reputation for being an inclusive and supportive workplace, new talent is eager to join. Employers can elevate employee experiences by creating workplaces where employees feel they belong and can be their authentic selves.

Summary

Employers can get ahead of the game in 2023 by monitoring the trends shaping the ever-evolving labor market and driving current and prospective employees’ needs and wants. While attraction and retention challenges are likely to continue this year, these trends demonstrate ways employers can elevate and strengthen their talent strategies to win and keep more workers.

Reach out to CorpStrat for more guidance on these topics and other employee attraction and retention trends.

2023 is Around the Corner: What’s your Benefits Strategy?

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Post pandemic, we know that employers are struggling to attract and retain talent. According to Zywave’s 2022 Attraction and Retention Survey, more than 75% of employers consider attraction and retention to be among their top five business challenges. This change in the labor market means the old ways of delivering Employee Benefits are no longer enough to increase retention. Employees now expect fresh healthcare plans that provide value and offer perks. Things that used to be considered “buy-ups” now must be included as core offerings.

So, what is your Benefits strategy? Here are our top tips for building a strong Benefits strategy going into 2023:

1. Be proactive.

Make sure your insurance broker is helping you dissect all your options and choices. Be open to options like changing carriers, it can present a significant cost-saving opportunity. Also, many employees will be happy to adjust if it means they receive better benefits at lower costs.

2. Build an attractive, well-rounded Benefits package.

It’s no longer enough to build a plan that only includes various medical plans. Employees are now expecting Dental, Vision, AFLAC, pre-tax plans, virtual care, as well as Cafeteria Plans for payment of medical expenses and dependent care. The good news is these are nominal expense Benefits, which can round out and add great value to any package. They can be implemented, no matter how big or small your company is. Of course, retirement plans are important as are strategies around adding PTO and flex time.

3. Communicate! Educate! Communicate!

Employees that don’t feel they’re getting the best possible benefits might seek out other job opportunities. You can have the best possible Benefit offerings, but if your employees don’t understand the value of the plans available, the most attractive plan could be rendered useless. Speak up and take the time to educate your employees. Employers have a unique opportunity to provide data and information to help employees better understand the value of your company’s offerings. Use an internal newsletter to communicate and call out the amazing benefits that are available to them.

4. Don’t leave out well-being perks.

As many workers reconsider their jobs and lives, they may also look to take better care of themselves physically and mentally. Although many organizations have expanded their employee assistance programs, mental wellness goes beyond access to care. Employers should consider how employees are treated in the workplace and ways to help reduce burnout. Some employers are offering mental health days and flexible working options to help employees take control of their workday and be most productive when they’re able.

5. Include work flexibility.

Hybrid work isn’t going anywhere any time soon. After 2 years in a COVID work environment, 50% of US employees say not including hybrid work is a dealbreaker when it comes to staying with a firm or joining a new company. Most employers recognize this because 78% already provide the option to work from home and 66% offer flexible work schedules, which include options like four-day work weeks.

6. Listen to feedback.

Ask your employees what they want and what they’d like to see. You might surprised to hear what their needs are and how simple those requests can be to fulfill.

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These benefits all must be considered as you compete for talent in a environment where there are fewer choices, and most great employees are wrapped up. Be sure you package your programs and communicate them throughout the course of 2023

Are You Creating Company Culture That Builds Retention?

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It takes a lot of effort to build culture, and it takes very little to destroy it.

A recent study revealed that 75% of workers cited Company Culture as the primary factor that influenced their decision to work at a company; for many, culture ranked higher than salary. It might be surprising to hear but job seekers are likely to pass on a “perfect job” if the Corporate Culture isn’t a good fit.

So what exactly is Corporate Culture and how do you create culture that builds retention. Read on to learn more.

What is Company Culture?

In short, Company Culture is simply the way things are done in an organization.

Every company has values, rules, and unspoken routines that make it a one-of-a-kind entity. Some are formal and some are informal but your culture bleeds into everything: the way you handle problems, the way employees interact with each other, and the way your leadership team carries itself.

It doesn’t stop there, culture also sets the tone for virtually every interaction your employees have with your customers. From emails to face-to-face interactions, your Company Culture is constantly on display in your employees to your customers. For your clients, it really doesn’t matter what you say to them, what you DO is what they’ll remember. This is why having a motivated workforce that both believes in the company mission and feels supported by their team is so key to building and fostering client relationships.

How do you build positive Company Culture?

Positive Company Culture trickles down to every aspect of your business. It can be seen in communications in your office, the way your team interacts, how your team behaves, and how your people connect with one another.

Good Company Culture will foster both engagement and retention. Conversely, bad Company Culture will emphasize punishment and reward the wrong behaviors. It’s hard to see how far reaching the effect of Company Culture is because its impact is both internal and external; intrinsic and extrinsic.

Signs of a bad Company Culture can look like toxic employee gossip, high turnover rates, and overall poor morale. If you’re noticing the beginnings to these behaviors, now is the time to act. Prioritizing Company Culture is a choice. It starts with hiring the right people to do the right jobs and continues with intentional effort. Building a great Company Culture requires thoughtful leadership, time, attention to details, and is not really based on compensation

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Building culture should be fun and rewarding. If you need help cultivating a positive Company Culture, reach out to us at marketing@corpstrat.com

How to Simplify Communicating New Hire Rates to Employees

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Communicating new hire rates to employees has grown increasingly complex in recent years. Back in the day, it was simple and straightforward: rates were the same for either single employees, an employee plus a spouse, or an employee with a family. Unfortunately, this is no longer the case.

Since the inception of the ACA in 2010, California employers with 100 or less employees have a rate based on each employee’s actual date of birth and their home zip code. On top of that, each eligible dependent has a rate based on their birth date. When you combine that with most companies having somewhere between six to eight plan choices, the layers of complexity really start adding up.

How can you simplify this?

Between differing rates, benefits plans, multiple products, regional variances, state requirements, and demographics, you need to find a sustainable way to communicate these specifics in a clear and easy to understand way to your employees. To us, this really starts and ends with automating the process. If you’re not embracing technology for this, you’re missing out on a huge opportunity. Automating this process means employers can deliver all of their rates, plan options, benefit summaries, and even the SBCs to remain compliant in a seamless, paperless experience.

If your Employee Benefit enrollment experience is clunky or is still paper based, let’s talk. We can help you save time, save money, and increase efficiency and compliance. We’d love to help make your organization look great to your team and your potential new recruits.

6 Tips to Successfully Attract and Retain Employees in 2022

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The workplace has been transformed by the pandemic, now employees have higher expectations for compensation, benefits, and workplace flexibility. Due to this, employers of all sizes are facing attraction and retention challenges like never before. Compared to 2021, organizations are experiencing a 3x increase in difficulties attracting employees and a 4x increase in difficulties retaining employees.

Successful efforts to win over new employees can require investments of time and costs that are higher than ever. Most businesses don’t have a lot of resources to invest in attracting and competing with large, well-capitalized organizations so it’s time to think outside of the box. We encourage you to get creative. Don’t be afraid to risk being unique and different in order to attract the talent you need to achieve your goals.

We’ve put together our top tips to help you successfully attract and retain employees in 2022:

1. Review your Benefits

Health insurance has to be a vital part of your compensation package but don’t stop there. Build out a well-rounded benefit offering that will wow your prospective employees. Include vision, dental, life, disability, 401K plans, and more. After you put together this plan, make sure you have ways to communicate them clearly to your prospects.

2. Review Your Recruiting and Hiring Process

Make sure your recurinting and onboarding process is welcoming and engaging from beginning to end. New employees will notice the difference and it will help set the tone for their time at the company.

3. Offer Bonuses for Employee Referrals

Expand your recruiting to include your employee base. Offer employees a cash bonus for referrals that are hired to the team. If your employees love where they work, they’ll be motivated to refer their friends.

4. Focus on Developing Your Employees

Include educational reimbursements, extracurricular learning, and skill advancement opportunities in the areas of their interest.

5. Establish a Hybrid Work Environment

There’s no escaping it, flexible work environments are the new normal. Create a clear hybrid work policy that allows for flexibility between in-office and remote work when an employees’ positions allow for it.

6. Focus on Enriching Workplace Culture

Continue to work on your workplace culture for employees who come to the office. Help your team foster community by encouraging friendship. This can include free lunches, team happy hours, or company-wide social events that help to bond your staff together and build camaraderie.

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Need help with improving your company culture? Contact us at marketing@corpstrat.com